I have been in different sittings with some older people where they talked about the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s with a particular kind of tenderness. They mentioned how some bags of food almost cost nothing and are very affordable. They mentioned the easy access to education and all. Not only that, but they talked about some peaceful things, like no kidnapping, bandits, and brutality happening today. They even talked about how much they enjoyed electricity, food, and roads back then. I have heard a lot about these stories, and I imagined that I could have just been born back then so that I would have missed the country that was so functioning.
But as things go on. As my eyes became more exposed to a lot of things, the more I realized that tenderness is selective. But when I looked deeply into things, those elders refused to tell some of us the full gist, and I like full gists. Everything was looking glamorous in the early 1960s because then, we were still under the colonial masters, and independence was closer and disappointment was still very small then. But just six years after we gained independence, the very first coup took place. And just a year after, my country experienced her first civil war, where a lot of Nigerians were killed more than some of us can comprehend. That decade that most people usually talk good about is still the same time that caused and started most of the things that this country is yet to be completely free from today.
When I decided to take a look back, the picture was even worse than I imagined, most especially in the precolonial era. Then, we had something known as the genuine community, this strong social bond and strong cultural identity that modern life has now destroyed. But then, there were no adequate cesarean sections, no antibiotics, and no eyeglasses. A lot of women lost their lives in the process of giving birth, which in today's world is considered catastrophic. A small toothache ended people's lives. Though there was a lot of beauty during that era, it can't be compared to how fragile everything were.
I could remember my dad talking about the military era of the 80s till the late 90s, and that made me also read more about it. And the reality is that that was the least era I'd imagined myself in. Not because it was unnecessarily hard. But because people's voices have been silent. And those who challenged that ended up being locked up, or they disappeared. That type of silence damaged a lot of things that people still talk about today.
And looking at the era that I am currently living in. Though it frustrates me like hell sometimes. But I can speak. I have the opportunity to develop myself. I can build something online. I can write and express myself and reach the people that I have not seen in person amongst a lot more. And to me, that is not a small thing. Though it is still far from the best era. But it is just the only real one that I am currently witnessing and I have any real hand to play.
Thank you for reading.
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